30.10.12

Things round here are so busy right now. So so busy. Between knitting a whole bunch of new things for Happy Circus as well as coming up with a range of new bits and bobs too, photographing and pricing the pieces I've collected for my next vintage sale (save your pennies because there are some serious gems to be had...it'll bring a tear to my eye to part from some of it!) and chasing this monkey round the place, the days just zip by. There are also some exciting new things happening with this space too, which we'll be sharing very soon. Plus I've been making ears and a tail for my little witches cat for Halloween tomorrow. Boy oh boy Phiney's gonna look cute...

27.10.12

On this lazy Saturday, as a cold chill sets in, I'm sat with the winter sun on my face dreaming of....This beautiful little house, we'd love to call our own. Just around the corner from where we live now, in the area we want to stay in while Josephine grows and we make more babies. If anyone has a spare £300,000 you'd like to donate to our 'buy a house' fund, just pop me an email...This fantastic kitchen. I've been swooning over Mel's home for a while now and her blog is definitely worth a visit. How fantastic is that rustic table?TheG Plan vintage collection at John Lewis. My Dad text me a picture of the window display in London earlier in the week and we were both swooning over it. I'd have to take The Fifty Three sofa and chair, in case you were stuck for Christmas present ideas Father dearest! Family fun in this awesome little tent, found at A Beautiful Mess a while ago. Ben and I are going to make one for Phiney's first birthday so I'm hunting for the perfect vintage fabric. As soon as Josephine is up from her nap, we're going to wrap up warm and head out for a walk. Stopping at a little antique shop that's closing down and has bargains to be had, just for a look of course, and then buying something yummy to eat for dinner. Dreaming is cool but, with my favourite boy and favourite girl as companions, real life is better. Happy weekend everyone xPhotograph by Tori. Another one, I know, but when they're so lovely how could I not use them? And life's so busy round here right now I simply haven't found time to pick up the camera. But more on that next week...

24.10.12

Josephine's Monthly Portrait. Taken in her nursery on the 18th of every month.Nine months old today, and so much fun. A little bundle of laughter and cheekiness, bravery and confidence, love and kindness. And did I mention that she's the most beautiful creature; curly locks swept to the side, beestung lips, the longest eyelashes and bright blue eyes. Heartbreaker in the making. Likes: The water, whether it's splashing in the bath or swimming in the pool, she's our little water baby. Music and singing, playing with other children, walking with her little walker, eating banana and having her teeth cleaned (she's obsessed with teeth; her own and everyone elses). Dislikes: Spending too much time in her pram; she'd rather be crawling or holding your hand and walking. And she's really not a fan of daytime naps, but that's nothing new. What makes her smile more than anything: Mama and Papa both being on the floor playing with her toys. Building towers, reading books and messing about with teddies and dolls. There's also plenty of smiling at the prospect of getting in the bath with Papa and hearing the key in the door when he gets home from work.Favourite toys: Her vintage Fisher Price house, her walker, her doll Jenny and her teddy, a wooden pull along duck and this rattle. Oh and not forgetting a wooden spoon from the kitchen, our coasters and any cardboard boxes or Tupperware pots she can get her hands on; hours of fun! Mama's favourite thing: Her singing is hands down the sweetest thing in the world. I hum a tune to her and she'll sing back to me. My heart melts every time. And she's started giving me such snugly cuddles too. Papa's favourite thing: How happy she is when she learns something new; she was so frustrated at not being able to open one of the doors on her toy house, but when she finally mastered how to do it she was grinning away for ages. And my random little chats with her are awesome. She still says "Dada" more than anything else, which I love! Career prediction: Vet. Her love for animals is growing all the time. My grandparent's dog Bella is chased around their house constantly when we visit them and we have to stop to look at every dog or cat we pass when we're out. Plus she has mastered her "woof woof" and "grrrrrrr" sounds and her Eric Carle Animal Sounds book is one of her favourites. We could bottle you up at this age Josephine, so cute you are. We love you xxx

These photos were taken on the 18th, and most of the words written then too...it's just that I didn't quite get round to finishing the post until today. Nine months = a very busy baby and very busy Mama!

23.10.12

You may have noticed that right now, this little blog of mine is being featured all over the place...The ever so lovelyBronasked me to be part of herMeet the Mamaseries, and my answers are up on her blog now.Kirsty fromHere Comes Babyhas featured Josephine's nursery over atSpearmint Baby, where I've shared how to achieve an eclectic vintage space for your child.And we've also taken part inCharlotte'sawesomeAt Home Withseries over at her brilliant blog. Thank you all lovely ladies for asking me to take part. Go check them out :) Photos of our home byTori, of course.

16.10.12

When you're on a budget, finding something special in a charity shop is, more than ever, like discovering a piece of buried treasure. And when said item has no price tag on and the crazy old lady in charge that morning has to pluck a figure from thin air, you know you could really bag a bargain.

This beautiful set of side plates, tea plates and bowls epitomise the style I'm so in love with right now. A simple yet pretty design in a muted shade, with just the right amount of vintage femininity. And all for £4. I'm pretty sure that this very low price had something to do with a rather delicious nine month old baby charming the pants off everyone in that charity shop. High fives Phiney - I like your style!

12.10.12

Ah Friday, you are very welcome today. After a week of birthday parties, roadtrips and weddings the idea of two days, just us three, sound blissful. And the forecast of rain offers the perfect excuse to snuggle up indoors under piles of blankets, eat naughty treats and drink hot chocolate. Oh, I do love you autumn.I'd love to know what your weekend plans are. Any great adventures you're preparing for, or are you joining us in our quest for lazy days?On a very happy side note, a big hello to all our new followers. 250, wow! We're very happy to have you all here and I love to hear from you, so please do stop by and say hello :) Also thank you for all the lovely messages of support on this post. It means a lot. Happy weekend everyone xxPicture taken on my iPhone at the wedding we attended on Wednesday. These two...I feel so much happiness when I see them together.

11.10.12

Yesterday, while we were celebrating at one friend's wedding, another beautiful friend and her husband were welcoming three daughters into the world. Triplets, naturally conceived; Florence, Livvy and Eloise. All doing well, with just a little help breathing all that was needed. These are three very special babies, for reasons it's not my place to go into here, and their arrival is greeted with so much love and joy. Liz and Chris are going to make such wonderful parents, a role they've been waiting so patiently for. We can't wait to meet these gorgeous girls. And we hope you love the Happy Circus knits Mama. They're teeny tiny, but are still likely to be far too big for now. It's also super impossible to find a triplet card, so we set Josephine to work and she produced the best card ever. A very special parcel for some very wonderful people.

9.10.12

Happiest of birthdays my love, my best friend. Your first as a Papa and the last of your twenties. We love you more than you could know, more than words can say, and we will do forever.Beautiful picture by the awesome Tori.

8.10.12

This week marks the beginning of a new adventure for me; for us. On Friday I handed in my notice at work. I'm officially a full-time Mama, and I can't tell you how happy that makes me; makes us.Before Ben and I decided to make a baby, we had discussed waiting for a time that would financially allow me to stay at home with our child indefinitely. People make all kinds of decisions when it comes to childcare and heading back to work, based on money and ambition and a whole bunch of other factors, but for us it was important for me to be able to stay at home for as long as I wanted to. And we knew that would be as long as possible. For us, becoming parents meant being the people who decided what our children would be doing each day, how to care for them and how they were taught those early life lessons. For us, handing our baby over to a nursery or childminder to make those decisions wasn't an option. But in reality, it wasn't as simple as that. Ben's doing really well in his job but despite some serious budgeting and planning, we quickly realised that without me working, money would be tight. Really tight. As the months of my maternity leave ticked by (here in the UK you're able to take 12 months of maternity leave, where you receive a small percentage of your salary for the first nine months) we weighed up all the options. Working part-time? Find an evening job? Going back full-time? The true expense of childcare and more. But no matter what, we still came back to the same answer. There are more important things than money and nothing more important than our little family and our baby. So here we are, living off one salary. Budgeting to within an inch of our lives, compiling some pretty strict meal plans to keep within our allocated food spend a week, saying goodbye to most treats. But it doesn't matter. We can do it. We can pay our bills and our rent. Keep our car and still eat good, home cooked meals using fresh ingredients from our local butchers and greengrocers (in fact Ben's enjoying and embracing the challenge of these financial restrictions as he plans our meals for the week). We've even got a teeny bit spare to enrol Phiney on the next level of swimming lessons. But don't get me wrong, a bit extra would make a whole lot of difference and over the coming months you'll see me taking the next step to make Happy Circus my new career. To bring in more than a bit of spending money. But that's for another post. You'll also see us getting seriously thrifty, making second-hand a priority, saving the pennies where we can and attempting a completely DIY Christmas. Bit that's for another post too. Money-making, money-saving, upcycling, recycling - it's all something you'll be seeing a lot of round here. We're more than up for the challenge of creating a loving home full of fun, laughter and adventure that isn't impacted by the restrictions of our financial situation and, as I know we're by no means the only ones trying to live on a budget, your advice, tips and support will always be welcome. This is a new period in our lives, and it's one we're so happy to be embracing. At times I'm sure it'll be difficult but being able to spend my days with our beautiful girl and for Ben to know that she's with me while he's at work, it's more than worth it, and worth sacrificing all those material things for.It's the little moments like these that I wouldn't miss for the world. Josephine learning how to use her beaker on her own but finding the lid far more entertaining. And then there's seeing that smile all day, everyday. Yes, I count myself so very lucky.

1.10.12

The first of October already. The last twelve months have sped by so quickly, it's hard to believe how much has changed. This time last year, my belly was getting bigger by the day and we were slowly gathering bits and bobs for the arrival of our new baby, trying to guess if it was a boy or girl. Now here we are. Beautiful Josephine is crawling at high speed around the house, pulling herself up wherever she can, chattering about this and that in her own funny language. Our lives last October were full of excitement and wonder and a sense of unknowing; of how things would change and what they'd be like in a year. Today, every day is packed with just as much excitement and wonder and a sense of unknowing. And it's awesome. Things have changed, of course, but absolutely for the better.

That Ben and I created this little one with our love is the most wonderful thing in all the world. That we now have the privilege to help shape her life is a role we cherish, and in turn she is shaping our lives too. Every day is an adventure, and I can't wait to see what tomorrow holds. ps. how amazing is the top Phiney's wearing? It's French vintage at it's best, and it will be going into the shop later in the month with a whole host of other fantastic vintage finds. I was trying it on Josephine to see roughly what size it was, and I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures of her modelling it. To be honest I was very tempted to keep it, but right now Phiney has enough vintage in her wardrobe...

HELLO, I'm Nell and this is my journal. Documenting magical days with my husband Ben and our daughters, Josephine and Coralie; recording the adventures we have together. Life is always beautiful with these three.